How many comics do I need, anyway?

I've been trying to catch up on my blog reading (it's amazing how quickly it gets away from you!), and came across this article at the Newsarama blog.

It's an interesting read about serialized media such as comics (or series television), and whether it's really necessary to pick up all the fringe titles that have to do with a main event or other storyline you're following. Here's a good quotation:

Still, depending on the extent to which a particular issue’s information is reproduced online, the Internet may be a poor substitute for reading the actual comics. I don’t watch “Lost” anymore, because I feel like I get enough from Television Without Pity. My imagination most likely doesn’t sync up with the actual episodes, but at this point I’m not curious about the show’s visuals. I just want to know what happened.

Now, I love my comics and all, but when I pick up a book and it turns out to be something I don't want, I'm not happy. "Something I don't want" would mean something that I only pick up because I think I might need or want it to follow a storyline I do like. I'm actually pretty forgiving on this point--if it's a good story anyway, mor if it features characters I tend to follow, I probably won't resent having purchased a mostly-useless piece of story. But the former is subjective and the latter is a matter of individual preference.

Grumpy Old Fan gives the example of the recent Sinestro Corps Parallax one-shot, the one featuring Kyle Rayner. I've got this one. I'm happy to have it, because I follow Kyle as a character. If it was a similar storyline featuring Hal, I'd probably be a little irked because, while I don't dislike Hal, I don't like him enough to want a book filled with almost nothing but character material about him. There is, as GAF points out, a salient plot point here--but that I could have found on the net. Please note that I'm not complaining about having bought the book, just pointing out that I know why I'm not complaining. :)

(I'd also like to attempt to paranthetically counter any "internet spoilers are taking money from the comic companies" discussion by pointing out that, while there's undoubtedly truth to this, I personally buy more books because of the internet than I would otherwise. Double edged sword and all that.)